Lots to be had from that book!

"A likely reason that kids don't read as much as they should is because so many great books are boring. They may be well written and insightful and even beautiful but often times they are plain boring."

Written, of course, as a representative specimen of the 21st century and not the 18th or 19th.

The sad fact is the great novels, books appear "boring" to the modern mind because it is differently constructed. Raised on soundbites, PR and piffle, it simply cannot withstand the tomes of old, and withers when confronted by them. I have observed this numerous times, also with students I've had.

I believe it was author Neil Postman who wrote in one of his books (The Disappearance of Childhood (1982), that the modern mind has basically reverted to the level and maturity of a child. The reason is that all or most of its primary activities are predicated on the visual image (which, of course, any child can also grok).

Earlier, in a previous generation, this wasn't nearly so evident as it is today - now that PR and superificial drivel have come to dominate. Back in college in the early and mid-60s most of us read Sartre, and we also read Dostoevsky, Joyce ('Ulysses' was a favorite!), Aristotle's 'Politics' and others - and then debated their works.

The average college senior today, forced to part with his 'MySpace' page, would be paralyzed when faced with a similar task. He's locked in his own virtual world, and its very speed (e.g. of access) prevents him from having the patience to process deep thought. Or to read compendious but rewarding novels.

It is a tragedy in education, but one to be expected given the dumbing down and 'childification' of most of the current adult population.

"And the readers you most want (youth) are fixated on screens, not on paper."

A likely reason that kids don't read as much as they should is because so many great books are boring. They may be well written and insightful and even beautiful but often times they are plain boring.

Its not that young people don't want to read (Harry Potter, the biggest series of books in the last decade was written directly for the youth audience) it’s that writers want to impress their professors or fellow writers instead of wanting to entertain their readers. I'm not saying that writing needs to be light and inconsequential but it should be fun to read. And if it's not writers shouldn't be moaning if they can't find an audience bigger than their immediate circle of friends.

Dickens, Twain and Poe all knew the importance of entertaining their readers but English majors often seem to believe that writing entertaining and thought provoking fiction is beneath them.

What we need are more writers that have regular jobs by day and aren't Lit majors struggling to be heard, but write just because making up stories is fun.

I'm so glad I found this article right now. Why I didn't read it when it was first posted I can't imagine. I've been stuck on my current book for longer than I dare think, and just now to make things worse, I decided to read my own letters posted to Salon since I became a Premium member recently. I wanted to do that tie-a-rock-on-your-ankle-and-jump-in-the-river thing. Or at the very least to put my head in a bucket. I'm that embarrassed by what I've written even here, and I was thinking "there's no way to make it right, and if I can't even write a short opinion...." Etc. And all too terribly, disgustingly self-absorbed.

Obviously I need a very long walk. And a shot of the humility of one Garrison Keillor wouldn't hurt, either.

Dear Garrison and others,

When I wrote my first publishable and published book, I refused to move. I sat and wrote and wrote for five years. I almost killed myself.

It wasn't even fun, though it worked out okay. It's readable but all I remember is the pain, the pain of sitting. The pain of no other life.

For my next four books, I did exactly the opposite. I had fun. I took long breaks, like months off. And I had friends around and walked all the time. The difference that made for the work itself, not to mention my physical health was astounding. I think having been published once, I was ready to take it more lightly. And the newer books are so much better, if not in actual sales, than in delight.

I too love to create a world that isn't this insane one. And I love your work, GK, and I totally agree. Keep the body in motion and the mind is happier. That simple. That hard!

By a strange coincidence, I just decided last night to start reading the rest of Melville's novels that I haven't read (I am a fellow English major). So I started with Omoo. What a wonderful writer he was. There's a new book called DOUGLASS AND MELVILLE about his relationship with Frederick Douglass. Great stuff. Like his fellow New Englander henry david thoreau (whom Garrison attacked again on the last show as somehow sexless!) Herman was very much anti-slavery.

Anyway, Garrison, enjoy reading the rest of Moby Dick. But please lay off Henry D. from now on.

I look forward to Garrison Keillor's columns like I do my morning coffee and they both make me smile. Today I felt like, if I turned and looked out my window, I'd see him grinning back at me, that shock of hair hanging in his eyes and daring me to try to put it in it's proper place.

Here I sit, in my clausterphobic corner, the light of my computer monitor illuminating my face and hopefully my brain while I wonder how he managed to penetrate my mind. I'm surrounded by the same books, notepads and piles of index cards that were supposed to organize me. I'm stuck trying to complete my first novel and study for my Advanced Fiction Writing class at the same time and neither seems to be going well. If it were, I wouldn't be taking the time to write this.

Think I'll take Mr. Keillor's advice, grab my husband and take a walk first.